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Day 50: Emergency bilge system!

28 September 2024 · 1 min · 3K views

What this video covers

Pablo Berrus upgrades the bilge-pumping system on his sailboat during day 48 of preparations for a solo circumnavigation.0:02 The existing 12-volt automatic bilge pump is the primary system, but a summer flooding scare — where a small hole let water in faster than the pump could handle — prompted the addition of emergency backup capacity.0:05 The new setup centres on two 220-volt submersible pumps, each paired with a 20-metre discharge hose, stored in dedicated boxes ready to deploy. If the bilge level rises beyond what the 12-volt pump can control, Berrus pulls out a 220-volt pump, drops it into the flooded space, connects the hose to route water overboard, and powers it from a Bluetti AC240 portable battery.0:27 The AC240 can itself be recharged via solar panels, making the system self-sufficient offshore. The same pump-and-battery combination covers the engine compartment, which has no dedicated bilge pump. Both pump kits will be secured with straps in a fixed location aboard. The lesson from the summer incident: a single 12-volt pump is insufficient when a small breach floods a compartment faster than the pump's rated capacity.0:05

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